From the Weekender sports desk

I have a problem. This is supposed to be a Weekender-centric blog, but after the Cowboys’ loss Saturday and the surprising BCS championship blowout last night, I want to talk about football.

So how do I get there from here? Maybe by taking a page from Bob Newhart. In “The Grace L. Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Company,” his classic comedy routine about a super-cheapo airline, he starts out talking about war movies, then explains that he wants to start talking about airplanes and can’t find an appropriate segue. So he says, “In the war movies, there was always a scene with the dogfight with the airplanes. Speaking of airplanes …”

So how about this? Yesterday was Elvis’ birthday, and I was kinda surprised there weren’t more Elvis-related events in Weekender. Then I remembered, it’s a Monday, and the competition included the BCS title game.

Speaking of the BCS title game …

Remember in the old, pre-BCS days when the college football champ was the one left standing New Year’s night after the Rose, Sugar, Cotton and Orange bowls were in the books? By that yardstick, as far as I’m concerned, this year’s national champ is Boise State, since the Broncos are the only undefeated team remaining.

I expected them to wilt in the national spotlight. I always thought they had an unfair advantage, wearing blue uniforms and playing on blue turf at home, which I felt worked as camouflage. You know, they could pop up out of nowhere and surprise opponents, as if they were wearing those elven cloaks in “Lord of the Rings.”

But I was sure things would change when they had to play a top team away from home. Instead, they won a wildly exciting BCS game against what should have been a one-loss Oklahoma team. Give ‘em that crystal football. Or at least make Florida share.

OK, now on to the Cowboys. ESPN Classic has a show called “Top Five Reasons You Can’t Blame …” that takes a sympathetic look at sports scapegoats from Bill Buckner (hey, it wasn’t even Game 7!) to Len Bias (yes, he OD’d, but the Celtics are still bad 20 years later). As soon as possible, mainly to get his chin off his chest, I’d like to see “Top Five Reasons You Can’t Blame Tony Romo For the Cowboys Losing to Seattle.”

They include:

5. The game wasn’t over after he dropped the ball. Dallas had all its timeouts left; all the defense has to do is stop three running plays they know are coming, and the Cowboys get the ball back at midfield with a minute to go. Instead, they give up a 20-yard run, which allows Seattle to burn off most of the time left.

4. The starting QB is not supposed to be the holder. They only reason Romo was holding is because he started the season as the backup.

3. Who fumbled during the game? Not Romo. Jason Witten’s fumble ended a scoring threat, and Terry Glenn’s ended up costing the Cowboys eight points, the lead and the game.

2. I know kickers aren’t supposed to block, but if Martin Gramatica gets even a piece of Seahawks safety Jordan Babineaux (who made the tackle after the botch), Romo probably scores. Or at least gets a first down, allowing Dallas to punch it in for a TD or run the clock down and then kick from the middle of the field.

1. The Seahawks probably would have won anyway. A successful field goal makes it 23-21, Dallas, but the Seahawks have more than a minute left and a kicker, Josh Brown, who’s usually good from 50 yards on in and who beat the Cowboys last year with two 50-yarders. Once Dallas settled for a field goal attempt, I figured we were in trouble, no matter what.